The present invention pertains to fishing apparatus. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a fishing apparatus which is provided with one or more light sources directed so that the hook and, possibly, the bait of the fishing apparatus either fluoresce or phosphoresce when exposed to light from the sources. These light sources also enable the fisherman to identify the area in which the hook and bait are positioned, with substantial precision.
Fishing rods are known with one or more batteries in their handle to provide electrical power through conductors, which also serve as the fishing line, to a light. Such prior art devices include, for example, that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,190,872 to Dildine, which discloses a flotation device including a lamp. Conductors, serving as the fishing line, provide the lamp with power to illuminate and thereby identify with substantial precision the area below which the baited hook is suspended. However, the light from such a lamp, positioned above the water surface, may startle and frighten off some fish and thereby hinder, rather than enhance, fishing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,693,278 to Mahone provides one approach to the latter problem by disclosure of a specially configured, illuminated bobber. In Mahone's disclosure, the bobber itself contains a lamp, the light of which is visible to the fisherman through a translucent upper hemisphere but is hidden from fish below the surface by an opaque lower hemisphere. A tube member, terminating in a second lamp, extends radially from the opaque lower hemisphere to illuminate a baited hook, suspended below, with visible light. The Mahone device, although preventing light from the surface from penetrating the water, and although illuminating the bait, still is likely to frighten off many fish. The bright light from the second lamp, as well as the light beam passing from that lamp to the bait and hook, are visible to fish. Although some fish might be attracted by the subsurface light, a number of species are likely to be frightened away from the bait area.